KATHMANDU, Dec 28: Nepali Congress boycotted the parliament meeting yet again, accusing Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal of failing to address their nine-point demand in the House.
Speaker Subas Nembang adjourned the parliament for an indefinite period following boycott by the main opposition party.
The CPN (Maoist) has, meanwhile, accused the NC of pre-planned obstruction of the House. [break]
The House meeting that was supposed to begin at 2 p.m. Sunday began only at 6.45 p.m. but ended within 10 minutes after NC Chief Whip Laxman Ghimire announced his party’s boycott.
"The prime minister, on November 11, had made commitment to address the demands in a month but there has been no implementation so far," said Ghimire. “Though we have reached understanding on some points, there are other issues yet to be settled."
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The main demands are returning property seized during 10-year Maoist insurgency, disbanding the YCL´s para-military structure, and stopping unilateral formation of local peace committees at the village level by the Maoists.
Ghimire said the Nepali Congress wanted time bound commitment from the prime minister to implement the agreements. "We do not see any possibility of the PM addressing the House today to make such a commitment, so we are boycotting this meeting,” he declared. He then led the boycott of the NC parliamentarians.
Ghimire alleged that Nepali Congress district president in Palpa, Rajan Panta was severely beaten by the Young Communist League cadres Sunday itself, saying it is a clear indication that the Maoists’ youth wing is not ready to mend its ways.
Maoist Spokesperson Dina Nath Sharma, however, termed the House boycott a deliberate and pre-planned move of the main opposition to derail ongoing peace and constitution-making process.
“We have apprised them about clear decision of the Cabinet that concerned ministry is issuing circular to local law enforcement authorities immediately to ensure the return of (seized) property,” said Sharma. “But Congress leaders wanted to complete the process within 15 days, which may not be possible in some cases.” This demonstrated that the NC was merely looking for excuses to obstruct the parliament´s proceedings."
He said the Maoist side also proposed to set up a parliamentary panel to monitor whether properties are being returned. “But NC leaders did not seem ready to allow the House to run its business despite 12 hours of incessant effort by the prime minister.”
Sharma said other issues, including the one related to YCL, were almost settled. He said the main opposition’s boycott has affected several legislative issues scholarship act and pushed the future of thousands of students who are waiting for result of their MBBS result to further uncertainty.
Earlier in the morning, NC and Maoist leaders had reached an understanding to end the parliamentary deadlock through Prime Minister’s address to House after a Cabinet took decision to address all the nine demands raised by the NC.
Though the parliament meeting was adjourned indefinitely, a meeting to be held in Constituent Assembly’s capacity has been scheduled for Monday afternoon.
